Barcelona complete signing of Arturo Vidal from Bayern Munich

Barcelona have confirmed the signing of Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal on a three-year deal from Bayern Munich

Vidal had been heavily linked with a move to Serie A side Inter Milan but, as they did to Roma with Malcom, Barcelona have swooped in at the final moment to secure the midfielder’s signing.

The 31-year-old initially joined Bayern Munich from Juventus in 2015 and became a collusus in midfield for the German serial winners, helping them to three Bundesliga titles and one DFB-Pokal.

But now, Vidal has joined Barcelona for a reported £27m, pending a medical, with further details on the move to be announced shortly.

A brief statement on Barcelona’s official website read: “FC Barcelona and FC Bayern Munich have reached an agreement for the transfer of player Arturo Vidal.

“The agreement is for the next three seasons and is pending the medical examination that the player will undertake over the course of the next few days.

“FC Barcelona will shortly inform everyone about the arrival of the player and the agenda of the presentation ceremony.”

Vidal also released a short message via Bayern’s website, thanking the fans for their support during his time there.

Arturo Vidal has left FC Bayern München to join FC Barcelona.

We'd like to thank Arturo for all his contributions and wish him all the best in Spain! pic.twitter.com/juJgt9sd3F

— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) August 3, 2018

“Thanks to FC Bayern and all fans,” he said.

“I really enjoyed the time in Munich. I would like to thank the club for giving me another chance to take on a new challenge in Barcelona.”

While Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge added “I would like to thank Arturo for three great years on behalf of FC Bayern.

“We celebrated great success during this time, and Arturo had a significant share in that. He has always been at the forefront of important games, we have always been able to rely on him.”

Vidal played 124 games in total for Bayern, scoring 22 goals and recording 18 assists, and will no doubt be brought in as a potential replacement for Andres Iniesta and Paulinho who both departed in the summer.

The Chilean is Barcelona’s fourth signing of the summer after Clement Lenglet and Brazilian pair Arthur and Malcom.

“King Arthur and King Arturo” – Twitter reacts to Barcelona’s newest recruit

Following Barcelona’s second Serie A transfer hijacking of the summer, fans quickly took to Twitter to give their views on the move.

So Barça's transfer strategy now is to just hijack Serie A clubs?

— Ryan Baldi (@RyanBaldiFW) August 2, 2018

August 2nd, 2018.

The day @FCBarcelona said goodbye to winning the 2018/2019 Champions League.

Replacing Iniesta with Arturo Vidal is a move only imbeciles would approve.

Our board did.

— Lucas (@lucasammr) August 2, 2018